Top 5 Ways To Become a Tableau Ninja for OBIEE

More and more businesses are accessing OBIEE data just as they would access a CSV or SQL database using Tableau and BI Connector. But often enough, mistakes are still occurring when creating reports and extracting OBIEE to Tableau, resulting in time-consuming labor, and often inefficient outcomes. BI Connector has transformed not only time-scaled workflow, but it’s also allowed its users to utilize stunning visualization techniques to get the most out of your intelligence. Here, we’ve listed the top five practices which will empower you to get the most out of the program, and become a true Tableau ninja.

1. Commit to Your Worksheet First

Luckily with BI Connector, you no longer need to make your own SQL scripts to extract data, which is why so many utilize this program to extract OBIEE data to Tableau. Follow these procedures first before you extract data to reduce errors and work productively.

Before you extract data, use the Tableau Worksheet to first visualize the data that you need to extract. Visualization verifies that the data is correct and is indeed what you need to be extracted.

Extract only the required columns. OBIEE tables often have hundreds of columns many of which you might not need. Hide the columns that you don’t need, and click on the Use Hide Unused Columns feature in Extract Data UI to minimize the extracted data, whilst also to avoid hitting OBIEE RPD errors in less frequently used columns.

2. Follow the KISS Principle

When it comes to first building your data visualization, start with a small model consisting of one fact table and two or three dimension tables within the first Tableau worksheets you create. Time is an excellent dimension to choose at this stage because you can filter out data using the date. Once you start to gain more experience with small data models in worksheets, you can build up to more complex styles.

3. Know your OBIEE

Since BI Connector provides users with direct access to the OBIEE model, there’s no need to wait for weeks on end for IT approval. As you start to explore the program, learn the data model and its accessories as much as possible, such as subject areas, columns, and tables. Adhering to the following approaches will ensure you utilize your OBIEE data model correctly.

Keep your Tableau window and OBIEE analysis in a browser window side by side for thefirst several reports.

Identify the OBIEE report that gives you the information that you need to bring intoTableau.

Drill into the existing report in OBIEE to identify and note down the subject area, folders (tables), and columns that are needed for your Tableau report.

From Tableau, use BI Connector to connect to the same OBIEE environment. Do not mix production, test, dev environments since you will not be able to verify the results.

Create visualization in Tableau using the subject area, tables, and columns that youidentified from OBIEE.

Verify that the results you get in Tableau correlate with the results in OBIEE.

Use this approach until you become familiar with where your data resides in the OBIEE data model.

4. No Need for Auto-Update Every Time

To prevent Tableau sending a query to the underlying data source to fetch data, make sure you uncheck the auto-update when dragging and dropping a column. If you’re accessing the enterprise data warehouse through OBIEE, you will encounter tables containing thousands of rows: in the end, sending out individual queries for each column isn’t efficient and will slow down your transfers.

5. Utilize Those Filters

When using multiple data sources, remember that Tableau Desktop or Server might not have the capacity to source great volumes of data into the memory. The best way to keep data importing in a streamlined way is to utilize those filters within Tableau to only fetch the data you need for your report. This will accelerate your query type and make the transfer process more efficient.